Feb 17, 2026 – Getting the Best Performance from a Handheld Radio Part 1

Good evening. This is W1UT and tonight’s training is about getting the best performance from a Handheld Radio. This particular topic is based on my personal experience of using handheld radios for some 50 years. Further information can be found on the internet.

First and foremost upgrade your simple rubber duck antenna to a better antenna. There are many types of after market antennas you can purchase. ~19” antennas for 2m are usually a significant improvement, however they can also be unwieldy to carry around. A ~6” UHF antenna can also provides improvement. For those who enjoy hiking, consider building a roll-up or other similar antenna that you can put in a backpack or pocket. You can then hang it from a tree limb.

Next consider finding a higher elevation such as the 2^nd floor of your home near a window facing the repeater and/or go outside. Higher is always better! Remember line-of-sight is key. Be sure to hold your radio vertically and if necessary keep the radio at the height of your mouth. Just a few extra feet can make a huge improvement. Remember that repeaters all use vertical polarization thus for maximum signal strength always orient your handheld antenna vertically. Also get the radio off your belt before transmitting.

Make sure your handheld battery is fully charged. As battery power diminishes the output power of the radio will also diminish. You may find a battery for your radio that has a significantly greater capacity measured in milli-amp hours than the battery that came with the radio. The radio will also have much greater battery life especially when using full power. As we live in a mountainous area, I recommend you normally use your radio in the High power setting.

There are differences in propagation between VHF and UHF. The VHF band tends to have better long distance communication over flat, wide open terrain. The UHF band is better when using your radio in dense vegetation and in buildings. Thus UHF is better in downtown areas and VHF is better in open areas but not in forests. Higher locations are always best.

Get yourself a BNC to SMA adapter. SMA connectors do not last long if the antenna is constantly removed. A BNC adapter can be left on the radio and allows you to remove or replace the BNC antenna more quickly without wearing out your radio’s SMA connector. These adapters are cheap, around $5. Make sure to get the correct SMA mating connector for your radio and a BNC female on the other side. Nearly all Chinese SMA connectors are SMA male.

Handheld radios are amazing portable devices. Just remember that they do have limitations. With a little bit of knowledge these device’s limitations can be minimized.

That is all for this week. I will turn the time back to the net control station from W1UT.